The Founders Prize is awarded annually by the three founders of The Telling Room: Susan Conley, Sara Corbett, and Michael Paterniti, to the author of the best piece of writing to emerge from a Telling Room program.

Congratulations to our 2025 Founders Prize recipient, “Soul Water” by Ellie Levine!

A Few Words from the Founders

“It's a pretty remarkable feat to fully inhabit a new world and the level of detail and deftness of the plot were all impressive. It feels like the work of a writer who is ambitious, smart, and on their way to excellent things.”

Soul Water 
by Ellie Levine

Ineira is law.

Ineira is life.

Ineira is the Changing One.

The writer of that verse hailed from the city of Kayami, a pious nation who worshiped the goddess of the forest. Those from the city of Darkoda would have censored this verse had they come across it, as Ineira to them was nothing more than a disheveled demon lurking in exile. No matter which story you believe, who exactly Ineira was will depend on whom you ask.

For over a hundred years, these cities were unaware of each other; this all changed the night a mysterious figure arrived in Darkoda. The night seemed to still as he approached the gate, and a voice called down from above.

“Who approaches? You would do well, stranger, not to wander in these parts after dark.”

“That may be so,” replied the traveler, gazing up toward the outpost from which the voice came, “but my business brings me here at its leisure, and now is when I arrive no matter how you or I may wish it otherwise.”

“And what business might this be? We do not often receive travelers by the Western Gate, and by your speech I deem that you have wandered here from faraway lands. To what do we owe your presence, and how is it that you came to our fair city by the road that leads nowhere but the Desolate Forest, that demon’s den and plague upon our lands?”

The traveler laughed, and the sound echoed off of the walls. “Surely, friend, this cannot be your ordinary means of greeting guests. You ask to what my presence is owed, yet I ask the same of your cold manner! Is this not brave Darkoda, city of the noblest warriors and victors of any battle to which its troops are sent? I fear I must be in the wrong place, as never did I expect to be greeted by such a frightened voice.” 

There was silence from the top of the wall, and the traveler’s cloak billowed around him as he stepped forward. “To answer your question, friend, I am but a mere merchant, a messenger of good will from the foreign nation Kayami.”

“We have not heard of this place,” said the voice, suspicion thinly concealed by politeness.

“Nor had we of you, but word travels quickly when heard from the lips of a god.”

For a moment there was nothing but silence; then the gates opened, and the traveler entered. Only when he had done so did the world seem to release its breath and the night’s music could once again be heard near the city’s walls.

The next morning, the king of Darkoda sent the traveler with a heavily guarded party of Darkodians, for, as the king had said, “Better allies than enemies, and better enemies than strangers.” 

The party traveled for seven days and seven nights around the southern edge of the forest with what seemed to be little progress. It wasn’t until the dawn of the eighth day that one of the scouts returned with the news that they were about a two-day’s journey from the city. Heartened, the crew pressed on.

On the sunrise of the ninth day a smudge began to appear on the horizon, and as they continued walking, it seemed to them that more birds began to sing and the air was somehow both richer and cleaner than the stuff they breathed at home. All the while, the smudge became clearer and larger until they could make out the shape of white buildings with curved lavender roofs, all surrounded by a river of turquoise water.

As they approached, there was a sudden blaring of horns and rush of colors as a party of knights emerged from the gates of the city. Their horses, shining steeds with blue and purple ribbons woven through their manes, leapt easily across the bridgeless moat and slid to a stop in a ring around the travelers, stomping and breathing heavily. The group stilled as they saw that each of the knights carried a long spear that was leveled as if for battle. For a moment, there was silence.

Finally, one of the mounted guards spoke. 

“What a shame it is that at last your actions have been caught. It has been many a fortnight since your kind began stealing ours away, and at last we have arrived in time to prevent further harm to our nation. What say you, kinsman? Ought we bring these criminals through our gates for judgement or slaughter them where they stand?”

“If I may—” began one of the Darkodians.

“You may not,” the speaker replied.

“If I may just ask—”

“I have answered your request and denied it. You would do well to honor that decision if you value your limbs.”

“But what have we done?” one of the younger soldiers blurted out. He was barely older than a boy with armor that was slightly too large for him, and it was a curious and not angry look that the leader of the Kayamians gave him.

“Have you not been made aware of the crimes to which you are complicit? I had known that whatever rogues had been stealing away our people were hard of both hearts and morals, but not that they were willing to conceal their intentions from their own comrades.”

The Darkodians looked at each other with confusion. They turned to their guide, the traveler who had arrived at their city with news of good will and trade.

He had been silent up until this point, so none of them had noticed his grin or the way that his eyes slid over each face before him with ease despite the spears encircling them. He began to laugh, and a light appeared in the middle of his forehead. They all backed away as his laughter grew to a thunderous echo, the light growing brighter and brighter until it was blinding, making them throw up their arms to shield their eyes. As it faded, they peeked out from behind shaking fingers to see in his place…a girl?

She was neither tall nor slender, and her dark hair flowed down the back of her white gown like liquid from the crown of a head that was topped by a net of jewels. She regarded them with an even gaze, smiling at the cleverness of her trick.

The Kayamians were the first to react. They threw down their weapons and leapt from their horses, prostrating themselves at her feet. This made her smile widen, and she looked to the Darkodians, tilting her head slightly to one side. There was a force behind her gaze, and even as she smiled warmly, there was something else to it, some sort of private joke that she seemed to be on the verge of sharing.

The spell broke as she stepped forward, and the Darkodians flinched away, remembering in a sudden guilty rush the stories of corruption and dark magic that surrounded creatures that could change their form at will, to which this shining maiden clearly belonged. Her expression hardened although her smile remained, and she turned to the Kayamians, still groveling at her feet.

“Please, rise,” she said. “Your Lady commands it. Show these men to the gates of your shining land. Show them the way through, and welcome them with arms as open as you would one of your own.”

They at first resisted the Kayamians as they tried to steer them off toward the city, but their insistence was unyielding, and the Darkodians eventually gave way and allowed themselves to be led to the edge of the water.

The girl, who had followed them, slipped silently among their number and placed a hand on the shoulder of the one who had spoken up during the confrontation. She drew him aside.

“What brings you here, young one?” she asked quietly, in so low a voice that the others couldn’t hear her.

“Duty…my lady.” He was looking at her curiously, and barely remembered to use her title, as she could not have been, based on her looks, much older than he was.

“To what?”

He thought for a moment. “To my kingdom, I suppose.”

“Have you pride in it?”

“Why, if there was ever a thing in the world to be proud of, oughtn’t it to be one’s country?”

She looked at him for a moment. “I suppose,” she said softly, “that if one was not proud of one’s country, there must be very little that one was proud of. But it does not escape me that you have not yet answered my question.”

The boy smiled sheepishly. “I suppose I have not.”

The girl glanced over his shoulder, and he saw the water reflected in her eyes. “It would seem,” she said, turning back to him, “that you are not happy with your lot in life. Do not test me,” she continued as he opened his mouth. “I know I am right.” 

The voices of the others grew more agitated, and she grabbed him as he began to turn. “Listen well and close,” she said quickly as there was a loud splash from behind them. “The rest of your men have been given a dark path through their disrespect, and there is nothing that I can do to change that. You, however, need not suffer the same fate.”

The boy froze. “What…?”

“As I see the current state of things, you have two options.” There was the sound of another loud splash, accompanied by a cry. The girl tightened her grip on his shoulder. “Come with me, or leave this world at their sides.”

“My lady, I don’t—”

“You must choose.”

More splashes, followed by an awful gurgling sound. The boy’s eyes filled with terror as he stared at the girl before him. Surely, this was what he had been warned of in all of those firelit nights by the hearth with his family. There truly were demons lurking in the lands of the living; but as he saw it, it was a choice between death and submission, and he’d never been keen on becoming a martyr.

As if she’d read his mind, the girl smiled. Lifting her hand, she placed her fingertips on his forehead, and the jewels entwined in her hair began to glow. He heard the sound of a great waterfall, full of rushing whispers as it swirled around him, breaking him down into the tiniest pieces imaginable, before slowly building him back up into something new. Suddenly his head was spinning, spinning, and then…

Darkness.

Days later, Ineira stood upon a hill looking down on the gates of her city. The moat was calm after adjusting to the new souls in its flow, and fanfare could be heard echoing up from the gates. A flood of elegant riders in shining armor rushed out, leaping gracefully over the river. The streets were filled with children, laughing and waving streamers of blue and purple; they looked so innocent as the light reflected off their shining hair. She had done what she could to keep both the children and their families safe, and their laughter brought joy to her heart. 

The last of the riders paused on the edge of the river, peering at the water, then spurred his horse onward. Time slowed as they leapt over the turquoise band; then the horse landed and the party was off, laughing and waving at the city they called home.

Now that they had one more to strengthen their number, Ineira had little doubt that they would be able to protect her city from the darkness that had lured away so many. But that was for another time. Just now, she was content to watch as they rode off into the sunset, ready to find new wanderers to welcome into their lives with open arms.